Once Again
by LonelyAlbatross
Summary: Having finally escaped the city of wasteland, Melanie fights to finally take down the Capital.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins.

**Once Again**

_The wheels of fate will turn._

* * *

**Part One – The Ashes**

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Chapter One

I felt something cool on my face. I struggled to open my eyes and saw Edward wiping my face with a cool towel. I sat up in confusion and I remembered what happened. Warm tears fell down my face, not unnoticed by my brother. He was still in his peacekeeper uniform. We were in a dimly lit room.

"Did Theo win?" I questioned immediately.

Edward frowned. "It's not finished yet, he's still playing."

My lip fell at the edge. "He promised me he would win." I whispered.

"He will." My brother reassured. "For now you should rest. I fixed you up as best as I could, but I'm no doctor. When you get more rested up, I'll send you to Meera. She'll take care of you."

My brother turned to leave. I pulled on to his shirt, "Where are we?"

"We're in an underground bunk. It's a hideout in case anything ever happens. For now, this place is safe for us to hide."

The key words caught my ears as livid hornets. This place was only safe, _for now_. Soon, there would be be nowhere left for me to run, and I would spend my life hiding in the darkness. I could never be seen again. My heart ached as the future became and clearer and clearer in my head.

I watched my brother disappear through the door. It closed with a hollow noise that echoed in the room. It felt like I was hearing the emptiness in my heart. I tried to recall exactly what happened:

"…_going to let anyone else kill you but me. I want you to suffer Melanie." Theo said bitterly. That wasn't his voice. No, never his. I loved him too much to believe that._

_The flashlight he held in his other hand went out. All the power in the city was cut off, the electromagnetic wave Enerem had died to make was working. The Capitol would never see what happened next. I turned to ready to grovel for my life._

_That was when Theo began to cry. "Melanie, your father doesn't want you to take the chance staying in the games anymore. He made me do this… He made me!"_

_I didn't understand the change in Theo. He had just tried to kill me before he'd broken out crying, he was weeping like a child as he fell to his knees, the gun trembling in his hand._

"_Theo… What are you talking about?"_

"_Your father used me just like how he used you. That accident when your mother died, when my parents died. I was the one who snuck into the peacekeeper's tower."_

_I blinked in disbelief. "Theo… That's impossible."_

"_Lainy…"_

"_No Theo." I interrupted. "It's impossible because I was the one who did it. My father gave me a device, similar to what Enerem had made. It disrupted the signal and allowed the boat to leave."_

"_But… But I went to the guard tower that night."_

"_What exactly did my father tell you?" I questioned with my eyes narrowed._

_Theo bit his lip. We didn't have much time, and this was the only chance to tell the truth. "He told me your mother was going to blow up District Four. She had the bombs and everything."_

_I swallowed hard. "It was the only solution, my mother had gone mad." I fought the tears that had returned with the memories. "But this still doesn't make any sense. Why did my father make both of us do it?"_

"_Perhaps he was unsure of it working?"_

_My breathing was becoming heavy. The pool around me had become rather large. "Are you going to kill me now Theo?"_

_Theo shook his head and offered a hand to help me up. "Your father and I prepared for this. On the offchance that you are unable to best the other tributes, I am to abort the original mission and ready you for extraction."_

_My eyes widened. "You were in this with my father?"_

"_And brother." He added. "The mutts had a special venom similar to some spiders, if you mix it with morphine," Theo glanced at the first aid box that I had believed to have been sent carelessly, "Then you have a drug that will stop your heart for about ten minutes. Then you will be taken away on the plane where Edward will extract you out to somewhere safe."_

"_What about you?" I questioned, and he went over to pick up the first aid kit._

_Theo turned back to me and gave me a weak smile. "I'll do my best to win."_

_I limped, feeling more than faint, outside. "And what if you don't win Theo?"_

"_Then I hope you will remember me, Lain."_

_I had become such a crybaby. Tears fell without end down my face. "Promise me you'll win." I begged as I finally made it outside. "I can't do this if you don't promise."_

_Theo paused as we met the rubble of a collapsed building. He laid me down and placed a hand on my cheek, I looked up to him, meeting his eyes with mine. "I have a plan Melanie. I know how to kill them." He then stood up again and looked to the sky, estimating his time. "The field will break off soon. I need to do this now, Melanie." He gave me a weak smile and opened the first aid kit on the ground._

"_This is the poison I retrieved from the mutts that had attacked us earlier. I messed around with the compounds with the supplies in the first aid box. This will make it stop." Theo said softly. I didn't move as he jabbed the needle into my chest and pushed the liquid in. "It's going to take a few minutes to get around your system."_

Fresh tears filled my eyes again. Everyone had been on my side, and now they were all going to die. I swallowed, no, that wasn't true. Theo was going to make it out of the Hunger Games. He would be a victor. I wasn't sure how exactly that was going to happen between him, Maphite, and Rinsh, but he said he had a plan. It was my job to believe in him, and I knew I was going to see him again.

I struggled to get up just as Edward returned. "Woah, woah! You have damaged organs, you can't be getting up just yet."

"Let me watch the games." I said firmly. "I had to see how Theo was doing."

"Theo is doing fine. They're resting right now."

"What time is it?" I questioned.

Edward looked at his watch. "2:37AM."

I sighed in relief, and looked at Edward. "What happened?" I asked sullenly. "While I was out."

"The entire Capitol was brought down by Theo's betrayal, all his sponsors have left. You were extracted just as planned, no one suspects anything. There will be double agents going in once the games have finished to erase any evidence of what truly happened before the arena becomes a tourist spot. Everything will be fine, Melanie. This was thoroughly planned."

I grabbed my brother's shirt by the collar, my first time displaying any violence in front of him, nevertheless to him. "_Father_." I seethed the word. "Told me that this was so I could get inside the Capital and kill Snow. He explained to me carefully that he expected me to either win or _die._ I _never_ knew about this little extraction plan, about Theo's part-taking in this!"

Edward placed his hand over mine, "Melanie, please. Don't be so rough. You're badly wounded, you don't want to reopen those wounds right after surgery." His points were backed up by a sudden throb in my stomach. "Calm down for a second Lainy, and let me _explain_."

I sat back and gave Edward a grin. "Ed, isn't it past the time to explain? Father didn't only make _you_ keep secrets from _me_." A cold laugh escaped me as I looked away, no longer able to meet the eyes of my brother. "_I _was the one who killed mother."

"I know that, Lainy. Your father was too _busy_ to dispose of the body."

My eyes widened and they returned to him.

"Lainy, I'm your _brother_. I've always been watching out for you. Even if this world disgusts me so, I know we're making _progress_ and one day, perhaps near or endlessly far, we'll make it out of the world we know now." Edward took my hands. "Everything we're doing, we're doing in sacrifice of a new world. You know that Melanie."

I looked to the barren ground. "Mother was the same wasn't she?"

Edward gave me a look. This wasn't a subject we often tread upon, and that was for a good reason.

"Melanie, we-"

"No." I snapped, interrupting him. "No more Edward, treat me like an equal. I'm an outlaw now, and there is nowhere for me to go anymore. I gave up my _life_ for this. You gave up your life for this. We're no longer siblings Edward, we're allies."

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**Author's Note**

Ah, finally started "Once Again". This is the sequel to "Once Remembered". Of course it is possible to understand this story fine without referring to the prequel, but my suggestions would be to read it anyways. In any case, I would like to hope that this sequel will appeal to more readers with Melanie actually on her own for so many of the scenes. This will be focused more on the treacheries in the Districts than anything else.

Prequel Link: s/8129031/1/Once-Remembered

Please leave a review, thank you!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins.

**Once Again**

_The wheels of fate will turn._

* * *

**Part One – The Ashes**

* * *

Chapter Two

I had been below the training arena. Edward had escorted me outside in the morning where I was met by a strange boy in a tailor suit. He met my eyes head one with such confidence that compelled me to look away. Edward had covered me with a large cloak, we didn't make too much of an effort to hide my hair. Half the Capital matched it in color and style. I never thought I'd be thankful for that.

The boy helped me into the cab, then got into the driver's seat himself. My brother had already disappeared. The Capital was likely going to keep an eye on him in the future, seeing as he was my brother. I wasn't going to be seeing him for a very long time. The feeling of loneliness had long since abandoned me in childhood. I was used to being left alone.

It was so strange, seeing the life sparkle with such radiance and joy after the Hunger Games. It was strange to simply be out of the Hunger Games. I had preparing myself in full expectance of meeting my demise. I had even convinced myself to welcome it, should it arrive. Now that my life was given a second chance, it felt… It felt almost too bad.

I stopped myself dead in that thought. All my life, I had been driven by a will to live, to impress my father and to make myself a hero in my attempts and possible success in freeing the Districts. It was life that filled me to the core. When I saw Malphite, Light… All those people who were _better_ than the fruit of effort cultivated from my lifetime, had I turned to death? When exactly did it become death that drove me to fight for my life? How was that even possible?

"Melanie Savie." I looked up, pulled out of my dark thoughts to see my mysterious driver eying me from the rearview mirror.

"Yes?" I answered, automatically taking on a polite tone. My driver could very well be a nobody, but I didn't take chances. All sorts of people could be useful.

"My name is Keon Lambourange."

He looked to me with eyes expecting a reaction. I didn't understand, I was certain I had never met him in my life. I had never been out of District Four, and I knew of no one outside it except from the Hun—

"Keon from District _Twelve_? But you..."

"Died in the Hunger Games?" He finished. "That is correct, the same way you did. I was the 'test' for your success. I was told that my only chance of surviving the games, was to eat the poisonous fruit from the trees. Apparently, I wasn't the first 'test'. About a dozen tributes died in vain."

I swallowed down the guilt.

"Why are you telling me this?" I questioned. "Do you begrudge me?"

Keon laughed, nonchalantly. "I am thankful for being alive, dear one. What I mean to say is, and don't misunderstand me, that I do expect something great from you. A lot of people died for you, a lot of people are supporting you. You had better do something great to make up for it."

"I do not like hearing such useless things, _Keon_." I said his name for the first time. "I will do what I have always set out to do. It means nothing to me what you or your little friends expect from me."

"I see you're just as feisty as you are on the games. It looks like that is one of the few things that was actually _real_ about you."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

The rude boy made one final laugh, then drove the rest of the route in silence. I was relieved to finally arrive back to Meera's building of gold. Just as the last time I saw it, it shined with all the glow expected from the heart of the Capitol. Only a few blocks away was President Snow, the antagonist of every pleasure. Keon led me up this time, and again I felt slightly nauseous in the elevator. Then I stepped off and followed Keon to the end of the hallway.

To my surprise, Meera's door wasn't locked. Keon didn't even bother knocking and simply invited himself in. The room hadn't changed at all, though it felt like an eternity had passed since I had last stepped foot into the vacant space. Meera stood by the window, only a slit open that she stared numbly out of, looking just as ordinary as her surroundings, in defiance of the Capital.

Meera turned to me then, and I ran into her arms showing more emotion than I was known for. Let that Keon judge me all her wants for it.

"Darling, I was so very afraid for you." Meera whispered.

"I didn't think I would ever have the chance to see you again." I whispered. "I didn't know about all this."

"I know sweetheart, I wanted to tell you, but I was told so explicitly against doing so. I'm sorry."

"It doesn't matter now." I said, shaking the thought away.

"Melanie… Theo's on now." Keon said weakly, and I turned to the screen for the recap of the final moments.

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**Author's Note**

I had to stop here ofc.


End file.
